Brainstorming

From Cowboy Bebop: Space Cowboy

This section is for new code-related ideas. Post here, with a new level 2 headline for each idea, and end each post with a signature, like this template.

Please find any content from before 2007-10-23 in the Brainstorming_Archive_1 page. --Funf 17:03, 23 October 2007 (CDT)

Ship Ideas

Just Two Ship Ideas, and a Hacking Idea...

I haven't seen these here yet, but that, of course, doesn't mean they aren't here!

First, the ability to use commands with a Comlink to move your own ships, with the exceptions of locking and attacking. You could command one of your own ships (For whatever reason) to enter Space, and send it to a specific coordinate. This could be used for things such as refueling another ship, or because you're on a different planet than your ship. I think personally-owned ships should be restricted to owner-only, but clan ships would, of course, be controlled by anyone in the clan.

Second, the ability to buy "shields" for a ship. While inside a shield, the ship can't attack directly. Ships can exit the ship, but not board it, and the ship can land, as long as the shield remains. The shield could be repaired using the Repairship command, though it would require special tools to recharge it. Originally, I see this more effective for large ships (Mid and Cap), I could also see it rather useful for Fighters, though. Those who just want to travel without being shot down and someone tries to attack them.

If it became a problem over time, maybe adding a way to severely damage the shields could be added, as well, instead of the slow speed of normal space weapons, since the shields would be well resistant to the current weapons (Or at least, moderately resistant).

With these ideas, a third idea came to mind, but it's for Hackers. It would be used to execute the first idea. A hacker could gain control of a ship's systems, and control it as if it were the owner of the ship, but only through Comlink commands.

Just three ideas I thought I would throw out...

-Waits to be hit with a club and knocked out-

Kelsey -- Tue Oct 23 17:25:46 2007

Bank Bonds

This is mostly to solve the problem of having money stored in a 32-bit signed integer. That causes a hard cap of =W= 2,147,483,647 on bank accounts and money on hand. I propose we implement a sort of bank bond. I have a few ideas about it, and I would like to hear opinions on which way people would prefer it.

Bank bonds could either be implemented as an object you can hold and tuck away, or it could be like a separate bank account. If we treated it like a bank account, the balance would be tied to your player, you would cash/view/transfer the money with "bank ..." commands, and the money couldn't be stolen with the "steal" command (maybe hacking, probably not). The object idea I think makes the money seem a bit more tangible since you can hold it, place it in an container, squirrel it away into your apartment, etc. It also opens the door for mobs using bonds as quest rewards, etc. Either way, the basic concept remains the same. Also, it would probably be possible to implement bonds as both, but I think that increases the work involved many fold and increases the probability for errors.

The second big thing would be the issue of interest. There would be three ways of doing it. The first option as favored by Spike is no interest. Bonds simply are a container for money. This pairs well with the bonds as a object idea.

The second way of doing it would be to have interest paid in a way similar to bank accounts are currently. As long as you're logged on, you get a little money added to it on the tick. This amount would probably be less than the interest on your account (unless you had a limited withdrawal bond). This pairs well with the bond as a bank account option. You could even have the bond reach maturity and stop making interest after it increased a certain percentage. You could limit the withdrawal to only the original value until it reached maturity. I'm personally in favor of this option.

The third way of doing interest is basically the same as the second way, but base them off real time. This seems the least realistic and the most complicated. The only advantage is that it rewards players for not playing.

The final big thing is to either let the player buy bonds of any value, or only allow values from a fixed set of options. It's probably slightly more work to make a menu of possible values, but I think it's quite a bit more realistic. For example, you could buy bonds in sizes of 10k, 50k, 100k, 250k, 500k, 1m, 5m, 10m, 25m, 50m, 100m, 250m, 500m, and 1b. Then, you could have bonds mature when they reach 2x their purchasing price.

So, I'm in favor of account bonds of fixed values with game time interest, but I'm open to change and would like to hear opinions on this.

Thanks, --Funf 11:48, 24 October 2007 (CDT)